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Joy2 Learn: Jazz With Wynton Marsalis
Take a tour about jazz with jazz musician Wynton Marsalis. Through video segments, you'll learn about the trumpet, the history of jazz and key famous jazz legends.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Jazz and Ww Ii: A Rally to Resistance, a Catalyst for Victory
Lesson plan that teaches the roles that jazz music and jazz musicians played in the war effort and that demonstrates the effect that the war had on jazz in America.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: A Brief History of Jazz!
A lesson plan that helps learners explore the roots of jazz music and some of the important jazz musicians in history.
PBS
Pbs: Biography of Dizzy Gillespie
This PBS biography about trumpeter and jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie includes photos, multiple audio features, and links within the text to other famous musicians.
PBS
Pbs: Defining Jazz Music
In this lesson, students will develop a definition of jazz. Through biographies and interviews of jazz musicians, students will learn what jazz music is about.
PBS
Pbs: Jazz Music and the Crisis Over School Desegregation
Working in cooperative groups, your young scholars will learn how jazz musicians expressed the Civil Rights era in their music. This lesson focuses on the Civil Rights movement in Little Rock, Arkansas. Also, they will learn to about the...
PBS
Pbs: Black and Blue: Jazz in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison was a musician who later became a writer. His book Invisible Man is written like a jazz composition. In this lesson, students will interpret key themes and concepts in Invisible Man that are also found in jazz music.
Stanford University
Sulair: The Monterey Jazz Festival Collection
This fabulous site describes the repository of the digitized collection of music from the Monterey Jazz Festival from 1958 which is housed on the Stanford University campus. On this site you can read about the performances, watch and...
Scott Alexander
Red Hot Jazz: Louis Armstrong (1900 1971)
This site from Red Hot Jazz contains a good biography of Louis Armstrong, arguably the most influential jazz musician. Very interesting and informative, also includes a picture.
PBS
Pbs: Jazz: Biographies: James Reese Europe
Short but informative biography of jazz musician James Reese Europe (1881-1919) from Ken Burns' PBS documentary, Jazz.
American Academy of Achievement
Academy of Achievement: Esperanza Spalding
Biography of jazz musician, singer and songwriter, Esperanza Spalding.
Other
The Official Miles Davis Site
Learn about the famous jazz musician Miles Davis. Links to an extensive biography, music, pictures, and more.
American Academy of Achievement
Academy of Achievement: Wynton Marsalis
A biography of jazz musician Wynton Marsalis. A musical prodigy, he began playing in orchestras while still in high school. He later won the Pulitzer Prize in Music. Includes a profile, videos, and a photo gallery.
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Comission
Explore Pa History: Billy Eckstine
Learn of the historical contributions of jazz musician, band leader, and Pennsylvania native, Billy Eckstine in this succinct biography.
PBS
Pbs: Jazz: Lionel Hampton
Part of the PBS site on Jazz by Ken Burns. Provides the biography of Lionel Hampton, vibraphonist, drummer, and bandleader.
Curated OER
National Park Service: New Orleans Jazz Nat'l Historical Park: Louis Armstrong
A major figure in jazz, Louis Armstrong is considered the father of jazz. Learn about his early days in New Orleans and how he developed into one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time.
PBS
Pbs: Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns
The companion website for a documentary film about jazz is home to a storehouse of resources and unique features about the historical, cultural, and artistic significance of jazz. With a timeline of key events in the history of jazz,...
Other
Jazz Improvisation Primer
An info-packed lesson on jazz improvisation and jazz history. Very useful for musicians aspiring to play in the jazz idiom.
PBS
Pbs: Jazz: Teddy Wilson
Part of the larger site, Jazz by PBS and Ken Burns, this page highlights the life of Teddy Wilson, one of the first black musicians to play with prominently white artists. Biographical information is from the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz.
NPR: National Public Radio
Npr: Techno Pop
Feature series on "The Secret History of Technology and Pop Music," traced partly through the story of an Indiana company that stopped making pianos and started cutting 78 rpm records using the talents of famous jazz musicians and others.
Other
Bobby Hackett: Accomplished Musician
Read about the life of jazz trumpeter Bobby Hackett (1915-1976 CE). This biography is divided by decade to easily follow his career.
Scott Alexander
Red Hot Jazz: Ferdinand Jelly Roll Morton
Red Hot Jazz offers a biography of jazz great, Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton, with selections of Morton's compositions and arrangements in Real Audio format.
Other
Article: What Makes Modern Jazz Modern?
A fairly long academic article on Modern Jazz and what "modern" really means.
American Academy of Achievement
Academy of Achievement: Sonny Rollins
A biography of Sonny Rollins, a jazz soloist who plays tenor saxophone. He is considered to be the greatest living jazz soloist whose breadth and depth of talent seems to know no bounds. Includes a profile, videos, and a photo gallery.
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